09 Mar 2022 Confronting Woke Capitalism

As corporate c-suites, progressive activists and the mainstream media applaud the idea of “stakeholder capitalism,” Free Enterprise Project Director Scott Shepard calls it “an insurrection of CEOs, of managerial classes, against the true owners of the company – the… shareholders.”

In a presentation at the recent 2022 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Scott described the crisis of American businesses becoming muscle for the political left. And he advised how conservatives can fight back.

Scott pointed out that “just boycotting doesn’t make any difference.” Quite simply, conservatives would end up depriving themselves of things they like and sometimes need if they boycotted every woke corporation.

A better strategy? Getting in the face of corporate leaders about how they’ve strayed from the free-market principles that made their companies successful in the first place.

“Let these people know you’ve had it,” Scott advised the CPAC crowd, “and why you’ve had it.”

Instead of boycotting a company altogether, Scott suggested that conservatives actually become engaged investors. This allows for direct impact:

If you own even one single share of a company, you can show up at a shareholder meeting and ask the CEO questions. There’s always a whole string of people on the left side doing all that, putting the pressure on.

“We can do it, too,” he remarked. “We must do it, too!”

Recognizing that not everyone can participate in a company’s once-a-year shareholder meeting, Scott added that there are opportunities available every day for shareholders to make their voices heard. Calling or emailing a company’s investor relations department, he said, allows conservatives to “let these companies know why you’re so angry.”

“Push back,” Scott encouraged the CPAC attendees (and those watching live online or on Fox Nation). “They get really antsy about this – which is… part of why they’ve surrendered to the left so consistently.”